How to fold an origami coral reef
A real project. Cut a branching pink coral from a folded stack, comb-cut seaweed, build a treasure chest with a gold lid, fold a clownfish, an angelfish and a starfish, and glue it all on a blue sea that stands up.
You need: 9 pieces: 11 cm pink square, then green, brown, gold, orange, yellow, tan, purple and half-A4 blue (sizes in steps). Scissors, glue, pens.. Challenge, 54 steps, about 55 minutes.
Steps
- Coral: fold in half. Start with the coral: an 11 cm pink square, pink side up. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
- Coral: in half again. Fold the right edges back over onto the fold. Now it's a narrow stack, 2.75 cm wide.
- Coral: cut the branches. Cut through all layers: from the top, 1 cm from the middle fold, down to the fold 4.8 cm down. Then from the top, 9 mm from the open edge, down to that edge 3.3 cm down.
- Coral: trunk and side branches. Cut all layers from the open edge 4.7 cm up to the bottom 7 mm from the fold: the trunk. Then cut just the top two layers from there to the fold side, 3.4 cm down.
- Coral: uneven tips. Trim the outer layers' tops 2 cm and 1.4 cm down, one each, and one inner layer's top 6 mm, so no two branches end level, like real coral.
- Coral: open it. Unfold the outer layers.
- Coral: open it flat. Unfold the first fold too. Two tall branches fork from the trunk, and two more sweep out to the sides.
- Seaweed: new sheet. Set the coral aside. For the seaweed, take an 8 × 18 cm green strip, green side down, standing tall.
- Seaweed: fold in half. Fold the top edge down onto the bottom edge. The fold on top is where the fronds will end.
- Seaweed: slope the top. Snip a slant off each top corner, from 2 cm down the side to 2.5 cm in along the fold, so the outer fronds come out shorter.
- Seaweed: fold the stack. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge. Crease hard: two more folds follow the same way.
- Seaweed: in half again. Fold the right edges back over onto the fold.
- Seaweed: and again. Fold it in half once more, to a stack 1 cm wide.
- Seaweed: comb-cut the fronds. Cut a long thin slice off each side of the stack, from 1.5 cm above the bottom up to the top fold, leaving 2 mm in the middle at the top.
- Seaweed: open it. Unfold the last fold.
- Seaweed: open again. Unfold the next fold.
- Seaweed: open flat. Unfold the first fold too. Eight pointed fronds rise from the band, each a loop of the top fold.
- Chest lid: new sheet. Set the seaweed aside. For the chest lid, take a 7.5 × 3 cm gold piece, gold side up, long side across.
- Lid: dome the top. Fold the two top corners behind, 1.6 cm each way, so the lid has a domed top.
- Lid: round it. Fold the four new corners behind too, just 5 mm each, to round the dome.
- Chest: new sheet. Set the lid aside. For the chest, take a 7.5 × 4.5 cm brown piece, brown side up, long side across.
- Chest: neat edges. Fold the top edge behind 5 mm, so the chest has a strong straight rim for the lid.
- Chest: bevel the feet. Fold the two bottom corners behind, 6 mm each way.
- Build the reef. Glue the lid to the chest's top left corner, tipped open. Glue the coral behind the chest's left end and the seaweed behind its right end, feet level.
- Clownfish: new sheet. Set the reef aside. For the clownfish, take a 7 cm orange square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Clownfish: triangle. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner.
- Clownfish: corners up. Fold the left and right corners up to the top point. Now it's a square.
- Clownfish: round the body. Fold the left and right corners behind, 8 mm in, and the bottom corner behind 4 mm. That's the back, belly and nose.
- Clownfish: flick the tail. Fold the top tip of each flap out to the side, so the two tips fan apart into a tail.
- Angelfish: new sheet. Set the clownfish aside. For the angelfish, take a 7 cm yellow square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Angelfish: triangle. Fold the left corner over onto the right corner. The right point is the nose; the fold on the left is the back of the body.
- Angelfish: sweep the fins back. Fold the top corner down and back so its tip pokes out 1.8 cm past the fold, just above the middle. Do the same with the bottom corner: a forked tail.
- Angelfish: blunt the nose. Fold the nose tip behind, 7 mm.
- Sand: new sheet. Set the angelfish aside. For the sand, take a 21 × 3.5 cm tan strip, tan side up, lying long.
- Sand: fold in half. Fold the left end over onto the right end.
- Sand: in half again. Fold the right end back over onto the fold, to a stack about 5 cm wide.
- Sand: round the dunes. Round off both top corners of the stack with two long, gentle snips each, starting 4 mm down the sides.
- Sand: open it. Unfold the last fold.
- Sand: open flat. Unfold the first fold too. Four soft sand dunes roll along the top.
- Starfish: new sheet. Set the sand aside. For the starfish, take a 5 cm purple square, purple side up.
- Starfish: fold in half. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The middle of the top fold is the centre of the star.
- Starfish: fold the sides over. Fold from the centre down to a point on the bottom edge 8 mm left of its middle, bringing the left part over to the right.
- Starfish: right part over. Fold the right part over along the edge of the flap you just made, so it lies on top.
- Starfish: point in half. Fold the left half of the point over onto the right half, lining up the edges.
- Starfish: cut the arms. Cut from the left edge 2.4 cm down from the point across to the right edge 1.2 cm down. Round off the tip with three small snips.
- Starfish: unfold. Unfold the last fold.
- Starfish: unfold again. Unfold the right part.
- Starfish: and again. Unfold the left part.
- Starfish: open it flat. Unfold the top half. Five fat arms!
- Sea: new sheet. Set the starfish aside. Last, the sea: half an A4 sheet of blue paper (21 × 14.8 cm), blue side up, lying long.
- Sea: crease the stand. Fold each short end in 4 cm and open it again. These two creases let the sea stand up like a screen.
- Sea: round the top. Fold the two top corners behind, 1.5 cm each way.
- Glue the scene. Glue the reef on the sea, feet 1.5 cm up. Glue the sand along the bottom over their feet, the starfish on the sand, the angelfish over the coral, the clownfish top right.
- Stand it up. Bend both end panels gently towards you on their creases, and stand the whole reef up on the table.
Welcome to the reef!
With a white gel pen, dot polyps up the coral, the pearls, bubbles and the clownfish's stripes. Draw the angelfish's black stripes, the chest's planks and lock.